12 Beers of Christmas 2018 Edition

[passedpawn]

Looks like 7 out of 12 for the 2nd group already!

Is it too early to talk recipes?

Have people traditionally followed Mosher’s recipes exactly or have they put a personal spin on them?

For the Ginger IPA, I’ll probably stick to a basic English IPA, but use a healthy amount of Brambling Cross in stead of EKG. I plan on brewing a trial batch sometime next week.

I'm not participating this year, but I did last. I made the beer to recipe and when it was done I found it wasn't what I wanted to send out. I ended re-brewing a very similar beer, but I greatly increased the ABV and body and complexity of the beer to make it more of a winter seasonal.

 

[anotherbeerplease]

I'm not participating this year, but I did last. I made the beer to recipe and when it was done I found it wasn't what I wanted to send out. I ended re-brewing a very similar beer, but I greatly increased the ABV and body and complexity of the beer to make it more of a winter seasonal.

Which beer did you brew? Any tips for this year's go around? In my opinion Mosher would most definitely be on board with an evolving recipe list, nothing set in stone... so long as it fits the spirit of 12 brews of xmas.

 

[HopHeavy]

I'm not participating this year...

You will be sorely missed! Maybe the next go, then.

 

[anotherbeerplease]

Do we have any way to get ahold of him? Could see what his current thoughts are, and what he might suggest today

 

[passedpawn]

Which beer did you brew? Any tips for this year's go around? In my opinion Mosher would most definitely be on board with an evolving recipe list, nothing set in stone... so long as it fits the spirit of 12 brew of xmas.

I made the cherry dubbel. More of a quad though on 2nd pass. I think it's pretty good. After having a few of the other guys beers (which so far have exceeded expectations!), mine is pretty heavy. No regrets though. I don't like highly spiced holiday beers (though I won my first gold in competition with one). So the bigger body hides most of the subtle mulling spices and stuff that give it that holiday character, and also the bigger body was necessary to carry the tart cherry finish. Those are all just my opinions of course Next guy brewing it has to make his own decisions. I PDF'ed my recipe, and if the guy who's brewing it this year wants the recipe I'll send. I'd also send a bottle, but sadly they all got sent out already

 

[anotherbeerplease]

Nicely done! I too am not a huge fan of spices, usually I do 1/2 or 1/4 of spices in a recipe and find that's more than enough, and let the beer speak for itself. Although I'm happy to stick to recipe in this case considering these will not really be brewed for me. Nothing beats a warming winter brew that stands on its own accord with natural flavoring.

 

[HawleyFarms]

I made the cherry dubbel. More of a quad though on 2nd pass. I think it's pretty good. After having a few of the other guys beers (which so far have exceeded expectations!), mine is pretty heavy. No regrets though. I don't like highly spiced holiday beers (though I won my first gold in competition with one). So the bigger body hides most of the subtle mulling spices and stuff that give it that holiday character, and also the bigger body was necessary to carry the tart cherry finish. Those are all just my opinions of course Next guy brewing it has to make his own decisions. I PDF'ed my recipe, and if the guy who's brewing it this year wants the recipe I'll send. I'd also send a bottle, but sadly they all got sent out already

I'd definitely be interested in seeing your recipe. I plan on brewing at least 2 or 3 versions in the next 6 months and seeing which one I prefer most. I have a dubbel recipe I've played with a few times so planned to use that as they base recipe with some add-ons.

 

[btbnl]

I made the cherry dubbel. More of a quad though on 2nd pass. ... So the bigger body hides most of the subtle mulling spices and stuff that give it that holiday character, and also the bigger body was necessary to carry the tart cherry finish. Those are all just my opinions of course Next guy brewing it has to make his own decisions. I PDF'ed my recipe, and if the guy who's brewing it this year wants the recipe I'll send. I'd also send a bottle, but sadly they all got sent out already

As one of the two cherry dubbelers this year, I read through the 2017 thread with a particular eye out for your posts and found both recipes you posted (re-attached here for convenience).

Looks like in batch 1 you used 15lb of sour cherries on 12lb of grain and 1lb of sugar (per 5G), and that was too tart, and in batch 2 you used 32oz of sweet cherry juice and no sour cherries at all on ~20lb of grain and 1lb sugar. Is that right?

 

[passedpawn]

As one of the two cherry dubbelers this year, I read through the 2017 thread with a particular eye out for your posts and found both recipes you posted (re-attached here for convenience).

Looks like in batch 1 you used 15lb of sour cherries on 12lb of grain and 1lb of sugar (per 5G), and that was too tart, and in batch 2 you used 32oz of sweet cherry juice and no sour cherries at all on ~20lb of grain and 1lb sugar. Is that right?

Yep, that's right. Except, I did not use that pilloncillo for the second batch, I subbed brown sugar.

If you go with the tart cherries, watch out. My initial dubbel was split into two, and the one with cherries was very tart. I ended up dumping it. Maybe less would have been better, but you can see the direction I ended up going, and I'd do that again. For the cherry juice, it was 100% natural no sugar added sweet black cherry juice. Found locally. I added that right at the end of fermentation.

 

[btbnl]

Yep, that's right. Except, I did not use that pilloncillo for the second batch, I subbed brown sugar.

If you go with the tart cherries, watch out. My initial dubbel was split into two, and the one with cherries was very tart. I ended up dumping it. Maybe less would have been better, but you can see the direction I ended up going, and I'd do that again. For the cherry juice, it was 100% natural no sugar added sweet black cherry juice. Found locally. I added that right at the end of fermentation.

Thanks - good to know.

The way I'd read the recipe was to add an extra pound of sugar to the base dubbel (so 2lb/5G) and ferment on 2.5-5lb/5G each of both sour and sweet cherries.

 

[passedpawn]

Thanks - good to know.

The way I'd read the recipe was to add an extra pound of sugar to the base dubbel (so 2lb/5G) and ferment on 5-10lb/5G each of both sour and sweet cherries.

Here are my notes from the 1st attempt. You'll just have to compare these to the recipe you have there. I brew a lot and can't really answer many questions - just can't remember it all. It's why I keep notes like this

[19MAR17] OG 1.058. Only 1# piloncillo added. No brown sugar added. Ground cinnamon was used instead of stick. 14.5# Cherries will add exactly 10 gravity points.

[later ?] I did add brown sugar

[19MAR17] taste wasn't as sweet as expected. Good flavor though. Cinnamon was not too pronounced, which is good.

[18APR17] 1.008. Taste was not sweet, fairly cherryish. Not super tastey I don't think. Probably needs more ABV.

 

[dryboroughbrewing]

I'll throw in one note about piloncillo sugar, at least the batch that I used seemed to impart a fair bit of unfermentables.

During the first go round I got stuck pretty high, so I brewed my second batch and cut it 50/50 with cane sugar to help dry out the tripel.

 

[Scturo]

Brewing the Caramel Quad today. The toffee part was the trickiest for me. I think it went good. Hoping everything turns out ok.

 

[biochemedic]

Brewing the Caramel Quad today. The toffee part was the trickiest for me. I think it went good. Hoping everything turns out ok.

Yes, I did that beer a couple years back...making the toffee was definitely an exercise in keeping a *very* close watch on it!

 

[badgerfan79]

I’m thinking of trying to brew up a test of the gingerbread ale right after the new year and see how it goes and if I need to make changes.
The recipe calls for a soft brown ale as a base. I will probably try it with my normal brown ale and see how it is. Here is the recipe, what do you guys think?
Style Name: British Brown Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.038
Efficiency: 60% (brew house)


STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.057
Final Gravity: 1.013
ABV (standard): 5.69%
IBU (tinseth): 22.98
SRM (morey): 19.13

FERMENTABLES:
10 lb - American - Pale 2-Row (76.6%)
1 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 60L (7.7%)
1 lb - Flaked Oats (7.7%)
0.75 lb - American - Victory (5.7%)
0.3 lb - American - Chocolate (2.3%)

HOPS:
0.8 oz - Fuggles, Type: Pellet, AA: 4.5, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 15.28
1 oz - East Kent Goldings, Type: Pellet, AA: 5, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 7.7

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Temp: 154 F, Time: 60 min

YEAST:
Danstar - Nottingham Ale Yeast
Starter: No
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 77%
Flocculation: High
Optimum Temp: 57 - 70 F
Pitch Rate: 0.75 (M cells / ml / deg P)

TARGET WATER PROFILE:
Profile Name: London (Porter, dark ales)
Ca2: 100
Mg2: 5
Na: 35
Cl: 60
SO4: 50
HCO3: 265
Water Notes:

 

[Scturo]

Yes, I did that beer a couple years back...making the toffee was definitely an exercise in keeping a *very* close watch on it!

I don’t have any experience with melting sugar, and SWMBO was working. I got nervous because some parts of the pan were getting darker faster then the rest. I thought I might’ve cut it short. I did taste some of the darkest parts, and it tasted good, no bitterness. Expanding my skills with the 12BOC, [emoji3]

 

[BigCrazyAl]

I don’t have any experience with melting sugar, and SWMBO was working. I got nervous because some parts of the pan were getting darker faster then the rest. I thought I might’ve cut it short. I did taste some of the darkest parts, and it tasted good, no bitterness. Expanding my skills with the 12BOC, [emoji3]

This is the part I'm nervous about as well since I'm new to caramelizing things. I'm curious to see how your brew day goes as I'll be getting mine done within the next few weeks.

 

[Scturo]

This is the part I'm nervous about as well since I'm new to caramelizing things. I'm curious to see how your brew day goes as I'll be getting mine done within the next few weeks.

It went ok overall. I hit the 1.080 OG mark, but my yield was only 4.5 gals. Would’ve liked at least 5 gals. It’s still enough to make 36 bottles. Like I mentioned, the toffee was the tricky part. Other than that, it’s pretty straight forward. I just pitched my yeast, so it’ll stay put for a month. Good Luck,

 

[btbnl]

It went ok overall. I hit the 1.080 OG mark, but my yield was only 4.5 gals. Would’ve liked at least 5 gals. It’s still enough to make 36 bottles. Like I mentioned, the toffee was the tricky part. Other than that, it’s pretty straight forward. I just pitched my yeast, so it’ll stay put for a month. Good Luck,

I guess you could add 1lb of some raw brown sugar dissolved in 0.5G of water to up the volume without dropping the ABV.

 

[Scturo]

I guess you could add 1lb of some raw brown sugar dissolved in 0.5G of water to up the volume without dropping the ABV.

I thought about doing something like that. Do you think it would effect the flavor?

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

I would just leave as is. 4.5g isn't a huge miss.

 

[BigCrazyAl]

It went ok overall. I hit the 1.080 OG mark, but my yield was only 4.5 gals. Would’ve liked at least 5 gals. It’s still enough to make 36 bottles. Like I mentioned, the toffee was the tricky part. Other than that, it’s pretty straight forward. I just pitched my yeast, so it’ll stay put for a month. Good Luck,

I thought the OG of the quad was 1.100 with the added Amber malt and toffee to the tripel recipe provided. I put it in BeerSmith and got this.

Edit: ignore the carapils malt. It doesn't add much other than to help head retention and my efficiency.

 

[Scturo]

Edit: You are right. Looks like it’s low. It should end up around 8%. Now I have to decide to leave it or bump the abv.

 

[JDXX1971]

Edit: You are right. Looks like it’s low. It should end up around 8%. Now I have to decide to leave it or bump the abv.

I'd say rebrew and send the entire first batch to.................ME!

 

[Scturo]

Ha, yeah, I’m definitely drinking this one. And brewing again. Only in homebrewing can you drink your mistakes.

 

[biochemedic]

Ha, yeah, I’m definitely drinking this one. And brewing again. Only in homebrewing can you drink your mistakes.

And....cross posted to "You know you're a homebrewer when..."!

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

Trying to figure out which yeast to use for the spiced dunkel weizenbock. It suggests belgian abbey or altbier. Those couldn't be more different, so not really sure which direction to go with it yet.

 

[BigCrazyAl]

Trying to figure out which yeast to use for the spiced dunkel weizenbock. It suggests belgian abbey or altbier. Those couldn't be more different, so not really sure which direction to go with it yet.

I can't find a specific altbier strain but the style doesn't seem to utilize yeasts that produce ester/phenol flavors typically associated with a weizenbock. I'm seeing recommended yeasts that produce some fruity flavors but a mostly clean fermentation.

I'd lean toward a Belgian yeast that produces a banana/clove profile to fit the style. It seems the Belgian Abbey may do that but I haven't used that specifically.

Side note: I used WY3068 on my Weizenbock a while back and got a mostly banana flavor with some clove notes hiding in it. I under-pitched as recommended and fermented mid 60s to try and balance those flavors but the banana still overpowered the clove.

 

[Yeroc]

Wow. I followed the 2017 thread all year and was really hoping to take part in 2018. Can't believe I missed my opportunity and it's not even January yet. Also can't believe this new thread already has so many posts. Guess I'll just have to watch again this year. Bummer for me, but good luck everyone.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

Wow. I followed the 2017 thread all year and was really hoping to take part in 2018. Can't believe I missed my opportunity and it's not even January yet. Also can't believe this new thread already has so many posts. Guess I'll just have to watch again this year. Bummer for me, but good luck everyone.

Have you read the thread? There's a second group going you can join.